Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Celebrating the tentth anniversary of a release that redefined the possibilities of hip-hop both as music and message, UMR share a brand new edition of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly. Though a tanked camo butterfly now takes centre stage on the front cover, the tracklist remains unchanged; an unusual move for anniversary editions indeed, though perhaps the observation should be made that the sheer stylistic variety Kendrick offered us back in 2015 should keep us grateful well into the 21st Century. Besides, who'd want to tamper with the tracklist of a 10/10 record? They sure know how to keep the purists happy. From the explosive urgency of 'The Blacker the Berry' to the introspective poetry of 'u' and the cultural rallying cry of 'Alright', Lamar's vision remains as urgent and layered as ever.

Review: Kendrick Lamar aka. K Dot is hip-hop's all-time crown-bearer for the 2010s. Last time we checked, the same was true for the 2020s too. Bridging both decades came To Pimp A Butterfly, which saw mammoth success upon its 2015 release. Though perhaps prematurely slapped with the "classic" label all too soon (and though this wasn't wrong), one good index of an all-time great album is the prevalence of affectionate initialisms among diehard fans: in no time at all, it became known as "TPAB". The Compton rapper had had a firm social conscience ever since the release of Section 80 and Good Kid, Mad City, and TPAB would continue to restitute the many racial and consumeristic ills of American society; unforgettably, a White House mutiny is depicted on the original front cover. Songs like 'I', 'Sing For Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst', 'King Kunta' and 'Institutionalized' revolutionised rap through every motif from G-funk bounce to freeform jazz. Now, after a recent Super Bowl Halftime Show backed by vexingly ironic American flags and pyrotechnics, we hear a newly emerged butterfly: Kendrick's meliorative flows and butterfly-effect cogitations resound with the utmost clarity on this grey UMR edition.

Review: Mid 2010s hip-hop heads will be pleased to know that Kendrick Lamar's history-making third LP To Pimp A Butterfly, pet named "TPAB" by fans, is now being given a thorough reissue campaign via Interscope. Riddled with literary and contemporary influences relevant to racism, identity, hood politics and capitalist consumerism - all of which lie curdled but still active in the American psyche - To Pimp A Butterfly took its namesake from Harper Lee's literary staple of similar name, semantically substituting active murder of innocents (killing mockingbirds) for systemic manipulation of fundamentally free and beautiful people (pimping butterflies). The imago that emerges by the end of the record, especially on the penultimate, Isley Brothers-sampling psych-funk hit 'I', attests a resolutely healthy narcissism; a defiant riposte to centuries-long, systemic strangulation of Black selfhood.